Praying for Rain in Bavel

Those who attended Shaharit in WLSS on Wednesday had the treat of hearing Rabbi Joel Roth explain the history of how diaspora Jews settled on Dec. 4/5 for the beginning of the petition for rain, ותן טל ומטר לברכה. It’s a long and complicated story related to the calendrical reform of Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, and the contemporary rabbis’ decision to stick with the Julian calendar, plus some additional astronomical considerations that lead to a bit of drift in the date during century years that are divisible by four. Rabbi Roth pointed out that if things keep going this way, by the year 31,000 the drift will reach Pesah and there will be no days left when we request rain. Clearly, something must be done! He also noted that there is a long history of rabbis, from the Rosh to Rabbi Seymour Siegel, who have tried and failed to change practice either back to November 22, which would fulfill the Talmud’s dictum that diaspora Jews pray for rain starting sixty days after the equinox, or back to the 7th of MarHeshvan, which is the practice in Israel. I would like to join this effort, likely futility notwithstanding.

If you go back to the source, Bavli Ta’anit 10a, the first teacher of the Mishnah instructs to begin this prayer on the third of MarHeshvan. However, Rabban Gamliel advocates for the seventh of MarHeshvan so that pilgrims could have two weeks to get home without a deluge. In the Gemara, Rabbi Elazar states that the law follows Rabban Gamliel. Indeed, the codes (MT Tefillah 2:16; SA OH 117:1) rule thus, and universal practice in Israel is to follow Rabban Gamliel, even though there are no longer pilgrims walking home to spare from rain. However, the Bavli then cites a beraita in the name of Hananiah, who argues that in the diaspora (i.e. Bavel) they would wait for 60 days after the equinox to pray for rain. Rashi explains that their land (Mesopotamia) was low and saturated with water, so they did not need as much rain. The Babylonian Amora Shmuel is cited in support of this practice, and this became the halakhah for all diaspora communities, even though the rationale was linked to local weather conditions in Bavel.

In the middle ages the great sage Rabbi Asher b. Yehiel (1250-1327; known as the RO”SH; Section 4, No.10) argued that the prayer for “rain in Spain” should begin on the 7th of MarHeshvan. He actually began making this argument in his native Germany, continued it in Provence and then in Spain, but the local communities were unwilling to change their custom, even if they were suffering from drought and in fact fasting for rain (it is worth reading the entire responsum; an excerpt is below). He argued that while Jewish practice generally follows the teachings of the Babylonian Talmud, when it comes to matters of weather conditions, it should be possible to follow the sages of the land of Israel, whose climate is more like Southern Europe. In a community experiencing drought, he said, the prayer for rain should commence on the 7th of MarHeshvan, and be continued, if appropriate, past Passover and up to Shavuot (when young plants most need the water). Yet the sages of his time did not follow the Rosh, and thus all diaspora communities have continued to follow the custom of ancient Bavel (modern Iraq), even though no Jews live there anymore. Even his son, R’ Yaakov b. Asher, stated in the Tur that “we follow the children of Bavel.”

Nevertheless, of the three dates for commencing this prayer, our current practice of starting tonight, December 4, makes the least sense. It is not 60 days after the equinox, but 72 days, so we are not even following the practice of the Bavli. It is fine to say that we don’t “pasken by the Pope,” by why is the flawed calendar of Julius Caesar preferable to that of Pope Gregory XIII? The equinox is an objective event, and the Bavli’s instruction to wait 60 days takes us to November 22. Still, as the Rosh points out, it makes little sense to follow the Bavli if one’s climate is closer to that of Israel. His case is even stronger today when there are no longer Jews in Bavel (except perhaps some American soldiers who we hope are there temporarily). Our friends in the American West are suffering from severe drought. My feeling is that Jews should either follow their local weather conditions, which could be chaotic and a source of constant communal friction, or follow the teaching of Rabban Gamliel, and begin to ask for rain on the 7th of MarHeshvan. I hope to write this up as a more formal responsum, but expect that this effort too will end up as an academic point that is ignored in practice….